At 98 years of age, Elsbeth Juda can look back with a smile on the day she was called in to save a portrait session with Winston Churchill before his 80th birthday.
© 1945-2009
Elsbeth Juda.
A picture of the testy U.K. prime minister was being painted by her friend, Graham Sutherland, recalls Juda, inspecting a London show of her lifetime’s photography.
Sutherland was “panic-stricken,” Juda says in an interview, looking at her own extraordinary photos of the ailing statesman who had led Britain during World War II.
“Sutherland had two days to finish the portrait and it was going terribly wrong,” says Juda. “At this point, Sutherland asked me to come down and take photos so that he might finish the painting.”
Churchill wasn’t impressed with the finished work.
“It makes me look half-witted, which I ain’t,” he said, in a remark that is now part of Churchill lore.
The portrait commissioned by both Houses of Parliament was put on show at Westminster Hall and never seen again. Churchill’s wife had it destroyed, executors later said.
Juda’s photos are the only record of the sitting, and document the effects of age and illness on Churchill. The negatives are now in the National Portrait Gallery’s collection.
The Churchill photos, and many more, are on view at L’Equipement des Arts gallery as part of the first full survey of Juda’s work. The photographer was involved in every stage of the exhibition.
Weekly Pilates
Juda, often known as Jay, looks perhaps 80 at most, though she has more energy than most 80-year-olds one might meet, and does Pilates twice a week.
Jay is a petite, gray-haired woman, who carries a large pocketbook with many pouches and dresses in a practical, no- nonsense style -- often in slacks. She doesn’t consider herself an artist and is modest about her accomplishments as a photographer.
“For me, it was just a job and I got it done,” she says.
Still, her talent is obvious in the 118 photographs, reprinted from original and reconstructed negatives in the Victoria & Albert Museum’s National Archive of Art and Design.
Juda and her husband Hans came to London as part of the generation that escaped Nazi Germany in the 1930s. Hans, a journalist, started The Ambassador magazine, a trade-only publication that flourished from the 1940s to the 1960s, with a mandate to promote British crafts and products overseas.
During the postwar years, the sentiment among U.K. manufacturers was export or die. The Ambassador took on the challenge with its design aesthetic, humor and fresh graphics.
Bauhaus Teacher
It was through Bauhaus artist Lazlo Moholy-Nagy that Juda was pushed toward the camera. As The Ambassador’s first art director, Moholy-Nagy recognized Juda’s talent and sent her to study with his ex-wife, Lucia Moholy-Nagy, one of the most prolific Bauhaus photographers, who was teaching in London after also emigrating in response to Hitler’s rise to power.
Soon after, Juda did a stint as a “dark-room boy” at the Scaioni Studio, graduating to the position of photographer. She then set up her own studio in London, hauling around a Gandolfi 10 x 8 inch camera “on the No. 6 bus,” she says at the gallery during a break from installing the show.
Juda worked for advertising agencies and magazines, including Harper’s Bazaar, before joining The Ambassador full-time. She went on to become the publication’s in-house photographer.
Photo Revolution
In the postwar years, Irish linen, Staffordshire pottery and Scottish tartans might not have seemed the most promising subjects for a photographic revolution. Yet, through her lens, the thoroughly modern promotional pictures of crafts transformed Britain’s stodgy fashion and advertising imagery.
The images show the debut of an original aesthetic -- one that was influenced by the spread of European modernism and which predicted the burst of talent that defined 1960s Britain.
Uncut swathes of fabric, pulled from bales of Lancashire textiles, became an evening dress when draped on the model Barbara Goalen -- all the more striking in its contrast with the stark surroundings of the industrial mills. A production line of Scottish cashmere sweaters, through modernist framing, turned into a phalanx of competing diagonals and verticals.
Exotic Locations
Taking advantage of the new opportunities for jet travel, Juda flew with her models to locations such as Brazil, Japan and New Zealand, having them pose with locals, against the exotic landscapes.
Juda was not the first to embrace the anarchy of shooting on location, away from the static, artificial air of studio fashion photography: That trail was blazed by Hungarian Martin Munkacsi. Still, her work for The Ambassador distinguished itself through its wit and an attraction to the outrageous.
“When it was really absurd, it always tempted me,” Juda recalls.
That may explain the conceptual impulse behind a shoot promoting Scottish tartans that features a kilted family of four on the Champs-Elysees gazing upon the Arc de Triomphe; or the 1953 “Coronation Special” edition of The Ambassador, showing Goalen perched in high heels on skis in St. Moritz.
“Elsbeth Juda (Jay) Photographs 1940-1965” is at L’Equipement des Arts, 19 New Quebec Street, London, and now extended to June 7. Information: +44-20-7724-4294, or http://www.elsbethjuda.com.
Erika Lederman writes on art for Bloomberg News. The opinions expressed are her own.
ELederman@compuserve.com
© 2009 Bloomberg L.P.
May 4, 2009
UK: Photographer Juda Captures Supermodel on Skis, Aging Churchill
.
LONDON, England / Bloomberg News / May 4, 2009
Review by Erika Lederman
At 98 years of age, Elsbeth Juda can look back with a smile on the day she was called in to save a portrait session with Winston Churchill before his 80th birthday.
© 1945-2009
Elsbeth Juda.
A picture of the testy U.K. prime minister was being painted by her friend, Graham Sutherland, recalls Juda, inspecting a London show of her lifetime’s photography.
Sutherland was “panic-stricken,” Juda says in an interview, looking at her own extraordinary photos of the ailing statesman who had led Britain during World War II.
“Sutherland had two days to finish the portrait and it was going terribly wrong,” says Juda. “At this point, Sutherland asked me to come down and take photos so that he might finish the painting.”
Churchill wasn’t impressed with the finished work.
“It makes me look half-witted, which I ain’t,” he said, in a remark that is now part of Churchill lore.
The portrait commissioned by both Houses of Parliament was put on show at Westminster Hall and never seen again. Churchill’s wife had it destroyed, executors later said.
Juda’s photos are the only record of the sitting, and document the effects of age and illness on Churchill. The negatives are now in the National Portrait Gallery’s collection.
The Churchill photos, and many more, are on view at L’Equipement des Arts gallery as part of the first full survey of Juda’s work. The photographer was involved in every stage of the exhibition.
Weekly Pilates
Juda, often known as Jay, looks perhaps 80 at most, though she has more energy than most 80-year-olds one might meet, and does Pilates twice a week.
Jay is a petite, gray-haired woman, who carries a large pocketbook with many pouches and dresses in a practical, no- nonsense style -- often in slacks. She doesn’t consider herself an artist and is modest about her accomplishments as a photographer.
“For me, it was just a job and I got it done,” she says.
Still, her talent is obvious in the 118 photographs, reprinted from original and reconstructed negatives in the Victoria & Albert Museum’s National Archive of Art and Design.
Juda and her husband Hans came to London as part of the generation that escaped Nazi Germany in the 1930s. Hans, a journalist, started The Ambassador magazine, a trade-only publication that flourished from the 1940s to the 1960s, with a mandate to promote British crafts and products overseas.
During the postwar years, the sentiment among U.K. manufacturers was export or die. The Ambassador took on the challenge with its design aesthetic, humor and fresh graphics.
Bauhaus Teacher
It was through Bauhaus artist Lazlo Moholy-Nagy that Juda was pushed toward the camera. As The Ambassador’s first art director, Moholy-Nagy recognized Juda’s talent and sent her to study with his ex-wife, Lucia Moholy-Nagy, one of the most prolific Bauhaus photographers, who was teaching in London after also emigrating in response to Hitler’s rise to power.
Soon after, Juda did a stint as a “dark-room boy” at the Scaioni Studio, graduating to the position of photographer. She then set up her own studio in London, hauling around a Gandolfi 10 x 8 inch camera “on the No. 6 bus,” she says at the gallery during a break from installing the show.
Juda worked for advertising agencies and magazines, including Harper’s Bazaar, before joining The Ambassador full-time. She went on to become the publication’s in-house photographer.
Photo Revolution
In the postwar years, Irish linen, Staffordshire pottery and Scottish tartans might not have seemed the most promising subjects for a photographic revolution. Yet, through her lens, the thoroughly modern promotional pictures of crafts transformed Britain’s stodgy fashion and advertising imagery.
The images show the debut of an original aesthetic -- one that was influenced by the spread of European modernism and which predicted the burst of talent that defined 1960s Britain.
Uncut swathes of fabric, pulled from bales of Lancashire textiles, became an evening dress when draped on the model Barbara Goalen -- all the more striking in its contrast with the stark surroundings of the industrial mills. A production line of Scottish cashmere sweaters, through modernist framing, turned into a phalanx of competing diagonals and verticals.
Exotic Locations
Taking advantage of the new opportunities for jet travel, Juda flew with her models to locations such as Brazil, Japan and New Zealand, having them pose with locals, against the exotic landscapes.
Juda was not the first to embrace the anarchy of shooting on location, away from the static, artificial air of studio fashion photography: That trail was blazed by Hungarian Martin Munkacsi. Still, her work for The Ambassador distinguished itself through its wit and an attraction to the outrageous.
“When it was really absurd, it always tempted me,” Juda recalls.
That may explain the conceptual impulse behind a shoot promoting Scottish tartans that features a kilted family of four on the Champs-Elysees gazing upon the Arc de Triomphe; or the 1953 “Coronation Special” edition of The Ambassador, showing Goalen perched in high heels on skis in St. Moritz.
“Elsbeth Juda (Jay) Photographs 1940-1965” is at L’Equipement des Arts, 19 New Quebec Street, London, and now extended to June 7. Information: +44-20-7724-4294, or http://www.elsbethjuda.com.
Erika Lederman writes on art for Bloomberg News. The opinions expressed are her own.
ELederman@compuserve.com
© 2009 Bloomberg L.P.
At 98 years of age, Elsbeth Juda can look back with a smile on the day she was called in to save a portrait session with Winston Churchill before his 80th birthday.
© 1945-2009
Elsbeth Juda.
A picture of the testy U.K. prime minister was being painted by her friend, Graham Sutherland, recalls Juda, inspecting a London show of her lifetime’s photography.
Sutherland was “panic-stricken,” Juda says in an interview, looking at her own extraordinary photos of the ailing statesman who had led Britain during World War II.
“Sutherland had two days to finish the portrait and it was going terribly wrong,” says Juda. “At this point, Sutherland asked me to come down and take photos so that he might finish the painting.”
Churchill wasn’t impressed with the finished work.
“It makes me look half-witted, which I ain’t,” he said, in a remark that is now part of Churchill lore.
The portrait commissioned by both Houses of Parliament was put on show at Westminster Hall and never seen again. Churchill’s wife had it destroyed, executors later said.
Juda’s photos are the only record of the sitting, and document the effects of age and illness on Churchill. The negatives are now in the National Portrait Gallery’s collection.
The Churchill photos, and many more, are on view at L’Equipement des Arts gallery as part of the first full survey of Juda’s work. The photographer was involved in every stage of the exhibition.
Weekly Pilates
Juda, often known as Jay, looks perhaps 80 at most, though she has more energy than most 80-year-olds one might meet, and does Pilates twice a week.
Jay is a petite, gray-haired woman, who carries a large pocketbook with many pouches and dresses in a practical, no- nonsense style -- often in slacks. She doesn’t consider herself an artist and is modest about her accomplishments as a photographer.
“For me, it was just a job and I got it done,” she says.
Still, her talent is obvious in the 118 photographs, reprinted from original and reconstructed negatives in the Victoria & Albert Museum’s National Archive of Art and Design.
Juda and her husband Hans came to London as part of the generation that escaped Nazi Germany in the 1930s. Hans, a journalist, started The Ambassador magazine, a trade-only publication that flourished from the 1940s to the 1960s, with a mandate to promote British crafts and products overseas.
During the postwar years, the sentiment among U.K. manufacturers was export or die. The Ambassador took on the challenge with its design aesthetic, humor and fresh graphics.
Bauhaus Teacher
It was through Bauhaus artist Lazlo Moholy-Nagy that Juda was pushed toward the camera. As The Ambassador’s first art director, Moholy-Nagy recognized Juda’s talent and sent her to study with his ex-wife, Lucia Moholy-Nagy, one of the most prolific Bauhaus photographers, who was teaching in London after also emigrating in response to Hitler’s rise to power.
Soon after, Juda did a stint as a “dark-room boy” at the Scaioni Studio, graduating to the position of photographer. She then set up her own studio in London, hauling around a Gandolfi 10 x 8 inch camera “on the No. 6 bus,” she says at the gallery during a break from installing the show.
Juda worked for advertising agencies and magazines, including Harper’s Bazaar, before joining The Ambassador full-time. She went on to become the publication’s in-house photographer.
Photo Revolution
In the postwar years, Irish linen, Staffordshire pottery and Scottish tartans might not have seemed the most promising subjects for a photographic revolution. Yet, through her lens, the thoroughly modern promotional pictures of crafts transformed Britain’s stodgy fashion and advertising imagery.
The images show the debut of an original aesthetic -- one that was influenced by the spread of European modernism and which predicted the burst of talent that defined 1960s Britain.
Uncut swathes of fabric, pulled from bales of Lancashire textiles, became an evening dress when draped on the model Barbara Goalen -- all the more striking in its contrast with the stark surroundings of the industrial mills. A production line of Scottish cashmere sweaters, through modernist framing, turned into a phalanx of competing diagonals and verticals.
Exotic Locations
Taking advantage of the new opportunities for jet travel, Juda flew with her models to locations such as Brazil, Japan and New Zealand, having them pose with locals, against the exotic landscapes.
Juda was not the first to embrace the anarchy of shooting on location, away from the static, artificial air of studio fashion photography: That trail was blazed by Hungarian Martin Munkacsi. Still, her work for The Ambassador distinguished itself through its wit and an attraction to the outrageous.
“When it was really absurd, it always tempted me,” Juda recalls.
That may explain the conceptual impulse behind a shoot promoting Scottish tartans that features a kilted family of four on the Champs-Elysees gazing upon the Arc de Triomphe; or the 1953 “Coronation Special” edition of The Ambassador, showing Goalen perched in high heels on skis in St. Moritz.
“Elsbeth Juda (Jay) Photographs 1940-1965” is at L’Equipement des Arts, 19 New Quebec Street, London, and now extended to June 7. Information: +44-20-7724-4294, or http://www.elsbethjuda.com.
Erika Lederman writes on art for Bloomberg News. The opinions expressed are her own.
ELederman@compuserve.com
© 2009 Bloomberg L.P.
